Interesting question. I think there are two sides to this. Firstly the U is not a particular target for national recruitment (unlike BYU). But also Utah as a state has the best economy in the country, with the fastest growth and lowest unemployment, so finding a job in SLC and the surrounding area is easy (all my D’s friends who went back last summer found jobs even in the middle of the pandemic). And the cost of living is low enough that a new grad can live pretty well on a salary of $50K-$60K per year.
So if you like it there and have enjoyed the skiing and other outdoor activities, there isn’t much motivation to look for jobs out of state. However I do seem to encounter a fair number of Utah grads in Silicon Valley (judging by the “Go Utes!” comments when wearing a college sweatshirt).
@sillyspringer I have not done research but I hope our son will return to Texas after graduation. We are going to encourage him to looks for summer jobs/internships here and think a CS degree will have him well suited to get a job ( ), but I feel like there is a reasonable likelihood he will want to stay in Utah. Also, since we haven’t heard about merit aid yet, if the packages are significantly different than previous years for his GPA/ACT, he will be spending the summer in Utah to get residency. If he does that early on, it seems his ties will get even stronger to the state and who knows… Luckily it is a beautiful place that seems like it offers a great outdoor lifestyle that you can’t get in the same way in Texas. I am just trying to be zen about the whole thing. …speaking of merit aid, I sure was hoping they would be out this morning (3/15) but nothing yet. UGH!
There are plenty of CS jobs in Utah and more tech companies are moving here all the time and they are happy to hire U of U grads. I assume that is why you are seeing the statistics you are seeing. They are bringing companies in from San Francisco and Seattle because it is cheaper here and instead of “Silicon Valley” they call it “Silicon Slopes” and they are willing to give the kids a chance. Also as Twoin18 mentioned we have a good strong economy. We did have decent home prices as well until the past year or two. The housing market is crazy town here right now, as it is throughout the rest of the country but we were edging upward even before the pandemic because the tech people coming from California seemed to be driving the prices up. It will be up to your son and what the industry looks like when he graduates if he returns home to not. <3
I will also follow up with saying YES with a CS degree your son should have plenty of options in and out of Utah. My husband is an android mobile developer and is inundated with emails and linkedin requests DAILY from companies all over the country wanting to interview him. If he likes CS and sticks it out he shouldn’t have a problem. Also, my neighbor down the street is in CS and they are in the process of moving to Texas from Utah as his company is based in San Antonio so who knows
A lot of the Northeast is in the Northeast because of history and family. Most people I know who are in the Northeast, myself included, have mainly stayed here because we have families here. Outside of excellent public school systems, no one is really staying here for the urban sprawl, high prices, and terrible weather. We all vacation elsewhere, and as a CT resident, I like to go to places like Moab, UT or Tampa, FL, or Denver, CO. Not many places in the Northeast we aspire to get to.
This remote work world may also change things where even more people opt to move to places like Utah, Idaho, South Carolina, and so forth.
I work in Fin Tech as a software dev manager, and the market is red hot for tech. Simply find a recruiter or two in any area you want to work and they will have lots of job opps for you.
Has anyone heard any scholarship information yet? I feel like I have to be missing something. I don’t see how they could let this go this long. My S is getting excited about other schools because Utah has been on hold for so long.
This one is tricky for us as we are balancing holding off on paying for flights to Utah, and we sort of need to know where we stand with merit before pulling the trigger there. We’ve already spent $130 on the housing (she was accepted yesterday to her LLC). I am just hoping they will open the campus for some sort of touring. Or can one just do a drive through? We did a drive through with a few schools, and at least got to see what it looked like in person. The ideal tour though is with a guide and seeing inside some buildings and all, to get the full feel.
Are the emails for LLC and scholarship release dates coming to the Utah email address or kid’s personal email? I ask because I don’t think we’re getting anything.
Utah is bubbling up to the top for my D but it hinges on the merit aid so I’d like that resolved before we visit. But I’d also really like to visit. lol. I’m ready for this to be over.
It isn’t a closed campus so you can always walk around. I’d recommend parking at the top and walking downhill, then you can get Trax back up the hill from below the stadium (not sure what the situation is with any limits on use of the campus shuttles at the moment but Trax is city run). There are some reasonable food places one block west (downhill) of campus if you aren’t able to go into the food court. I found the outdoor walking tour much more useful to get a sense of the place than any buildings we went in. The views are the best part, especially from the bridge that joins upper and lower campus. And you should see a fair number of students on campus in April, unless you are there at the weekend when many people head to the mountains.
You may not be able to get in to see the dorm rooms, but given the variety of options a virtual tour might give you a better sense of the different options (and anyway I expect you’ll be picking a room before you visit).
Note that Utah’s statewide mask mandate is ending April 10 if that is a consideration, though I expect SLC may keep it longer and individual businesses may do too.
For classes in the fall, they have apparently announced that all classes of 50 or fewer will be in person, they are waiting to see for larger classes whether/how much distancing is required and what that will mean for capacity.
Going to have her start on the LLC dorm choosing. My main fear here is that she may start to get attached to the school because she picked a room and roomate(s) and sees her self there or feels bad about cancelling out, and then it makes it harder to make an objective decision.
So it sounds like we can for sure walk the campus - downhill, which would be great. We’re looking at the week of April 11. Not sure what week the Utah kids will be gone skiing? She isn’t a skiier
The main thing she would be interested in is the gaming/comp sci/3d buildings and labs. But we can probably get enough of an idea of that from videos. She really just wants to get a feel for the kids and if she feels she would fit in. She’s from the East Coast, so a little worried about how she may fit in. But she’s optimistic.
That’s late in the season. Most places stop right after Easter. Snowbird/Alta stays open through April and sometimes well into May but this year isn’t an exceptional snow year. But once the snow stops then it’s the ideal time for Moab, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef etc, so I don’t think you’ll ever see campus crowded at weekends except in football season when there’s a home game.
Definitely recommend starting some roommate searching, that should give a sense of the student population, there aren’t very many from east of the Rockies, a lot of OOS kids are from the mountain west and CA. What stood out most to us on the tour was the snowboarder vibe, particularly amongst some of the boys, otherwise it was a wide mix of backgrounds. But lots of super outdoorsy kids, serious climbers, skiers, backpackers, etc. (way more advanced than D and she backpacked a lot as a kid, climbed Mt Whitney, etc., for example one friend led kayaking trips in Alaska as his summer job).
My son hasn’t gotten anything either, which is weird. We have been checking both umail and his personal email. He gets promotional emails from the university to his personal email address but nothing else.
We just last night received acceptance to the LLC applied to, this came to personal email. We haven’t heard a peep about the merit … any info I have heard on that has come from this forum, really. I had emailed Utah myself last month and they said March 1, obviously that has changed as what I last heard was 3/22.
), but I feel like there is a reasonable likelihood he will want to stay in Utah. Also, since we haven’t heard about merit aid yet, if the packages are significantly different than previous years for his GPA/ACT, he will be spending the summer in Utah to get residency. If he does that early on, it seems his ties will get even stronger to the state and who knows… Luckily it is a beautiful place that seems like it offers a great outdoor lifestyle that you can’t get in the same way in Texas. I am just trying to be zen about the whole thing. …speaking of merit aid, I sure was hoping they would be out this morning (3/15) but nothing yet. UGH!
